Welcome to Litsy!

Poignant, missed opprtunity.

In 1940s Turkey, an unemployed young man accepts a job offer from a former school friend. He shares an office with a quiet older man, Raif, who seems to disappear into the background. As his co-worker lays dying, the young man discovers a journal detailing Raif‘s experiences in 1920s Berlin. This is a quiet, sad story, with broken people, and themes of loneliness, loss, and love. I couldn‘t put it down.

My latest book order has arrived! One of the most fun things about watching Turk Dizis is being exposed to books that I would otherwise never have heard of or picked up on my own. I never would have read Letters to Milena by Franz Kafka if it hasn‘t been featured on Erkenci Kuş. The tagged book is quoted by one of the main characters in Sen Çal Kipimi, which is my latest Dizi obsession. I think I‘ve found my next read. ?

Started this read as #abookyouownbutneverread and ended up using it as a #translatedbook since it was originally in Turkish. #halfbloodbingo #bookbingo

Meh. I didn't hate it. I was intrigued enough to read the whole thing. The characters felt...kind of flat & underdeveloped across the board, & the framing device of the flashback & the present-day narrator for half the book didn't work as well as another narrative choice might have.

Also, the author entirely punted on addressing how rough it would have been for Maria to stay working in Berlin nightlife in 1941 as a woman with Jewish parentage.

Yes! Been looking forward to this one!

Couldn‘t resist! On my TBR list it goes 🤗

This is a love story of a Turkish man who fell in love with an artist in Berlin in the 1920s. At an exhibition of contemporary art, he was mesmerised by a self-portrait by the artist Maria, whom he thinks resembles a ‘Madonna in a fur coat‘.
“First published in 1943, this unforgettable tale, with its quiet yet insistent defiance of social norms, has been topping best-seller lists in Turkey since 2013.”
#stacked
#HeyJune #LadyMadonna

Must I really truly return this to the library? I don't want to...

#kindledailydeal alert! This beloved novel has been likened to a Turkish version of Isherwood's Berlin Stories (which inspired the musical Caberet.) It's on my TBR and sounds lovely and bittersweet.

4.25 ⭐️
Madonna In A Fur Coat broke through my reading slump. It‘s quiet power hypnotized me. The characters, oh poor troubled characters, engrossed me. Like Steinbeck, Ali builds his story slowly allowing the reader to become more invested with each page. It‘s worth the read! #review #book #litsy

I started Madonna in a Fur Coat Today. So far I like it. Who‘s read it? #book #litsy #currentlyreading

These are all the library books I have out from the library. I‘ve been trying to keep it down to 10, which is good for ME. But currently I have 20 out, including THE MUSIC SHOP (not pictured). And about 20 holds. Cough. I just like options. I average about 1-2 read library books a week. Most of the ones here are ones I‘ve asked the library to purchase so feel like I need to read them.

#bookproblems #shelfie #libraryhaul

A bitter sweet story about love, loss, grieve and forgetting ones own soul. Definitely a book to pick up and get lost between the pages...

#madonnainafurcoat

1. Several—a certain couch or chair and in bed—depending on the time of day
2. Anything
3. I prefer a chapter, but at least need some type of break
4. Drink mainly—hot cocoa in mornings, water for rest of the day
5. Nope—only the book, silence preferable
6. Several, a soft cover for my purse and a hardcover for when I‘m at home
7. Everywhere
8. Silent
9. Never
10. New unless it‘s an ARC
11. Sometimes if it‘s a used book
12. @Book.Along

December Favorites #WrapUp. With almost two weeks off for the holidays, I was able to tackle quite a few books on my #decemberTBR (19 books in total for the month). Pictured above are my top favorites.

#books #amreading #bookreview #booksbooksbooks #favorites

I had a lot of good reading time last week. Although I consider myself a fairly slow reader, I read this book within a 24-hour period. Not only was it beautifully written, but the story just begs you to keep reading. This is a book club book and I cannot wait to discuss it!

I‘m sorry for being MIA. Long story short: someone tried to burn my house down while I was home. No idea who it was/why they did it. It was def intentional arson. I‘ve been busy dealing w/aftermath of that. Regular reading updates will start this week, but no BookTube for another few weeks as we get our house back to normal! Sir Betrothed came home early from his trip & surprised me w/a Turkish classic I‘m excited to read! Hope y‘all are well. 🖤

The opening of this novel draws you into the narrator‘s observation of Raif. Raif seems meek and under appreciated at his job and by his family. The novel then expands to show Raif‘s past life in Berlin after WWI. It‘s beautiful and tragic; it‘s a love story but also about missed opportunities. It is also about how the unassuming people in our lives are fully realized humans. I really loved this! 4.5⭐️

This was sold to me as a Great Gatsby-like read by a Turkish author that takes place in 1920s Berlin! I read the first 80 pages in one sitting. It‘s so good 💗

Plugging away at a new ARC, my little Parks and Rec pals keeping me company.

‏رجل لا يثق بنفسه وامرأة شديدة الثقة بنفسها يجمع بينهما عدم ثقتهما بالآخرين .. والحب. رواية جميلة تعيد الثقة في قصص الحب النبيلة ♥️

#currentread
What are you reading?

#books #sabahattinali #classiclit #bookstagram #bookish #booklove #okuyalim #kitapsever

I don't write about work books often but I love my job at Other Press and I think everyone should read this book when it comes out in October. It's a unique tale of love and loss, with exceptionally beautiful prose. Majestic and elegant, MADONNA will stay with you, even after you put it down.

Yessssssss I have been dying to read this one! 📖🎉❤️

Two young people struggling with the world's expectations and their own expectations of the world meet in Berlin, drawn together, despite their different backgrounds, by disillusionment and longing. The prose is full of beautiful, lonely melancholy and tentative love that just trembles on the page. It's a quietly intimate portrait of friendship and love that is unafraid of showing its melodrama, uncertainty and selfishness as well as its beauty.

This was an incredible book. Started on the commute to work yesterday morning and finished on the train home tonight. Beautifully written and perfectly heartbreaking. Best love story I have read in a while.

Just finished reading #MadonnaInAFurCoat and I think I might need a moment or two to recover 😥 utterly beautiful.

Favorite moment of the day! My cousin Nikki's selection for our Fourth Annual Autumn book swap!

I had yet to learn that nothing in this world can ever match the marvels that we conjure up in our own minds.